


Dream Within a Dream

by cornerstoned21



Category: Last Shadow Puppets
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 19:00:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2320010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cornerstoned21/pseuds/cornerstoned21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone requested a mermaid AU. This is about as close as I could get. Sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream Within a Dream

Miles looked wildly around him in panic.  
  
The ship was going down, there was no denying it to himself, not any more. The crew were scrambling around shouting at each other but Miles stood on the deck, frozen in inaction.  
  
Some slammed into Miles, causing him to stumble and nearly hit the deck.  
  
"What are you doing?" the man shouted at Miles, struggling to be heard over the roar of the wind. Miles shook his head and fought to maintain his balance.  
  
"I was, awoken by the sound," he stuttered. The man looked at him pityingly and to Miles's surprise he was suddenly being manhandled to the side of the deck.  
  
"Get in," the man ordered, shoving Miles onto the empty lifeboat. Taken unawares Miles felt the back of his legs hit the bench and he all but collapsed into the seat. The sailor who had shoved disappeared for a minute and in his absence Miles steeled himself to look over the edge of lifeboat. The waves below seethed angrily and Miles swallowed nervously. Without warning the lifeboat lurched and started to descend.  
  
"No, stop!" he cried, surging to his feet with his heart in his throat, but it was too late. The lifeboat continued to descend with him as the sole occupant.  
  
Just before the boat hit the water a piece of debris hit him on the head, rendering him unconscious.  
  
When Miles awoke once more he was severely disorientated for several minutes. Sitting up he looked around him for some clue of where he was but all he saw was water. With a sinking heart he remembered what had happened before he had been knocked unconscious. Bringing one hand up to his head he probed it gingerly, wincing when he came into contact with a swelling lump.  
  
“Bloody fantastic,” he mumbled to himself. With a sigh he once again directed his attention to the matter at hand and only then did the true enormity of his situation hit him.  
  
There was nothing in sight. No ship, no lifeboats, no debris. It was like the ship and all those on board with him had completely vanished without a trace. Miles was alone on the ocean with no land in sight.  
  
The first hour Miles spent in a haze. Most of it was spent panicking. When he finally got his act together he decided to search the boat. Lifeboats often had supplies tucked in them, he thought he remembered someone mentioning that to him once. But his search yielded no results. The boat was empty, save for him.  
  
Miles rested his arm on boat and propped his chin up on it, staring into the shadowed depths of the water that drifted past him. The sun pounded on him mercilessly. Miles stripped off his overcoat and rolled up his shirt sleeves, but there was no breeze and the heat was miserable. In an effort to cool himself off Miles decided to dunk his shirt in the water before putting it back on. He leaned over with the shirt in hand when something else caught his attention and he jumped back with a horrified shriek. Heart pounding, Miles shifted slowly over slowly so that he could see over the side once more. There was nothing to see buy blue grey water.  
  
Laughing slightly at his foolishness Miles retrieved his shirt from where it had been discarded and proceeded to dunk it quickly in the water. The wet shirt felt delicious on his over heated skin. With one last glance around to make sure where was no land in sight, Miles lay himself down on the floor of the boat and tried to think of what to do next.  
  
Miles wasn’t sure how he was able to fall asleep or when but the next time he awake it was early morning. It looked like he’d drifted into a fog bank, the world around him was shadowed and eerie.  
  
A sound to his left caught his ear and distracted him from the mutterings of his stomach. Squinting slightly Miles could see that something had disturbed the water up ahead, it rippled in circles away from a point in the center. Before Miles could decide whether or not he should try and row in that direction or not, an object suddenly broke the water in front of him.  
  
This time Miles didn’t shriek, but he stared in fascinated horror at the face staring back at him.  
  
“What are you?” he demanded of the creature that was staring back at him. The creature blinked once then frowned.  
  
“You can see me?” it demanded. Miles nodded and flinched when the creature disappeared, diving back down into the ocean. He waited anxiously for it to reappear but the water remained unbroken.  
  
When finally lifted mid morning and land appeared in his line of sight, Miles was unsure at first whether he was really seeing it or if it was just a hallucination. He contemplated trying to row over to it but the paddles were heavy and he didn’t have the strength. Looking around he spotted a life preserver at the bow of the boat.  
  
Miles stood on the bow of the ship and studied the land carefully. It was too far away for it to be much more than a blob of land. If there wasn’t a settlement nearby then Miles risked losing his lifeboat permanently and being stranded on an unfamiliar landmass. Then again at least on land he’d have a chance of survival. He could find food, and maybe fresh water.  
  
With that thought in mind Miles steeled himself and jumped into the water. It was colder than he’d expected but he gritted his teeth and began paddling towards land. Several times Miles could have sworn he saw ripples in the water next to him but every time he turned to look there was nothing there.  
  
Miles fought hard against the exhaustion and dehydration that clung to him but even as he drew closer to land he could feel strength leaving his body. He was barely a hundred yards from land when he strength gave out completely and he collapsed. The life preserver kept his head above water, barely, but he could feel himself slipping. Closing his eyes, Miles gave in to the weariness. Just before he passed out he could have sworn he felt someone tugging on his arm and propelling him towards land.  
  
Waking up on the beach with no memory of how he’d gotten there, it hadn’t been long before Miles had managed to stagger his way down the coast and to safety. The first house he’d come to had belonged to an isolated fisherman, but the man’s wife had kept him in bed and fed him soup and water until he recovered enough to rejoin his family in Liverpool. Most of that time was a blur to Miles and his dreams were filled with pale faces in the water.  
  
Silence falls at the table and Miles realizes everyone is staring at him expectantly. All of a sudden Miles knows that he can’t be here. The air in the room is suffocating and he needed out.  
  
“Sorry,” he muttered, getting to his feet and buttoning his waistcoat. “I just need some air.”  
  
Miles all but flees the house, ignoring the worried sound of his mother calling after him. The air is fresh and clean outside and he breaths in deep lungfuls of it, but it’s not enough. He starts walking and it’s not long before he finds himself perched on a stone wall overlooking the sea.  
  
It’s quiet here and Miles finally begins to relax until he hears the sound of someone walking up the path towards him. It’s a boy, about as young as Miles is. He’s dressed impeccably in a waistcoat and suit and his hair is perfectly styled, but there’s something otherworldly about him. He looks like he doesn’t belong in a world so mundane.  
  
Miles averts his eyes when the boy gets closer, but is surprised when the footsteps stop next to him and a body leans against the wall next to where he’s sitting.  
  
“Do you mind?” a voice asks. The boy is smiling slightly at Miles as he gestures to the wall. The face looks familiar, though Miles is sure he’s never met the boy before. Wide brown eyes widen slightly the longer Miles stares at him and the smile fades slightly at the silence.  
  
“Not at all,” Miles hears himself say. The boy smiles once more and takes a seat next to Miles.  
  
“Cheers,” the boy replies easily. “Beautiful night, eh?”  
  
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Miles wonders out loud. The boys accent is thicker than his own but he can’t quite place it. At his question the boy laughs.  
  
“No, not really,” he replies but doesn’t give a location. Miles flushes when the silence goes on for too long, feeling clumsy. The boy probably didn’t want to indulge in small talk, he berated himself and went back to staring at the waves and trying to ignore the person sitting so close to him.  
  
“What’s your name?” the boy asks, startling Miles out of his thoughts.  
  
“Uh, Miles,” he answers promptly, looking sideways at the figure sitting next to him. “And yours?”  
  
The boy hesitates slightly before replying. “Alex, Alexander Turner,” he says.  
  
They spend the rest of the night in contemplative silence, watching the ocean and occasionally glancing at the stars above. Before they part that night they make plans to meet up the next night. Miles knows nothing about the mysterious boy other than his name, but he can’t help but feel like he’s known him forever. He walks home with a smile on his face.  
  
When Miles dreams that night he’s no longer haunted by the face from before. Now his dreams are filled with smiling brown eyes and mischievous smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Edgar Allen Poe's poem of the same title.
> 
> _Take this kiss upon the brow!_   
> _And, in parting from you now,  
>  _Thus much let me avow-  
>  _You are not wrong, who deem  
>  _That my days have been a dream;  
>  _Yet if hope has flown away  
>  _In a night, or in a day,  
>  _In a vision, or in none,  
>  _Is it therefore the less gone?  
>  _All that we see or seem  
>  _Is but a dream within a dream.__________
> 
>  
> 
> _I stand amid the roar_  
>  _Of a surf-tormented shore,  
>  _And I hold within my hand  
>  _Grains of the golden sand-  
>  _How few! yet how they creep  
>  _Through my fingers to the deep,  
>  _While I weep- while I weep!  
>  _O God! can I not grasp  
>  _Them with a tighter clasp?  
>  _O God! can I not save  
>  _One from the pitiless wave?  
>  _Is all that we see or seem  
>  _But a dream within a dream?”____________


End file.
